Jourdan Bennett-Begaye
ICT
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration began laying off thousands of federal workers Thursday in what tribal and national leaders said will have a “dramatic” impact in health, education, law enforcement, social services and other tribal programs.
The layoffs, targeted at probationary workers hired within the last year or two, are expected to impact programs at the Indian Health Service, Bureau of Indian Affairs, Bureau of Indian Education, and more, according to information provided to ICT.
News of the layoffs swept across Indian Country after two weeks of intense lobbying in Washington by Native people attending a string of conferences that addressed education, housing, health, public safety, justice, gaming, taxation, agriculture and environmental issues.
Oglala Sioux Tribe President Frank Star Comes Out wrote on Facebook after midnight Thursday that the layoffs will affect at least 2,600 federal employees in the Department of the Interior, 118 BIA employees, 40 BIE employees, two positions within the office of assistant secretary of Indian affairs, plus social workers, firefighters and police.
“We will make every effort to protect Indian Country according to Trust and Treaty obligations and keep everyone aware of changes as we find out,” he wrote on Facebook. “We are looking at injunctions and possible measures to take to counter. Please be patient as our federal partners are also learning of these changes happening, too.“
Although the numbers of impacted employees continued to shift, the layoffs are expected to include more than 850 employees in the IHS.
They include more than 90 physicians, 350 nurses, at least 25 nurse practitioners, nearly 20 dentists, 43 dental assistants, more than 85 pharmacists, 45 lab technicians and more than 15 service area chief executives or their deputies.
“Tribes who receive direct service will be hit the hardest,” one official told ICT. “In communities across the country, if there are not protections for employees providing services for Indian Country and protections for mission-critical occupations, exempt employees, excepted employees and emergency employees, tribes will see a loss of essential services: healthcare, emergency services, childcare and educational services, justice services.
“If no action is taken to protect tribes, the impact will send shockwaves through every tribal community,” the official said.
The move by the Trump administration is expected to be the first step in sweeping federal layoffs. President Donald J. Trump signed an executive order Tuesday that told agency leaders to plan for “large-scale reductions in force,” and a civilian hiring freeze has already been ordered.
Leaders of national tribal organizations began gearing up late Thursday to join with tribal leadership for a broad legal fight that likely would center on trust and treaty responsibilities and tribal sovereignty.
A coalition of 24 Native organizations arranged an emergency meeting Friday to discuss the details of the latest order.
The coalition sent a letter to Trump Feb. 2, stating that tribal nations are political entities and shouldn’t be swept into the executive orders that target racial or special interest groups included in so-called DEI initiatives aimed at diversity, equity and inclusion.
“We call on the Trump Administration to ensure the United States’ delivery on its trust and treaty obligations does not become collateral damage in the Trump Administration’s implementation of its other priorities, such as limiting diversity, equity, inclusivity, and accessibility (DEIA) and environmental justice (EJ) initiatives, and restricting the federal workforce,” the letter said.
“Federal Tribal programs are not racial or preference programs, and indeed these federal funds and programs are legally mandated under the trust and treaty obligations owed to us,” it stated. “[B]road sweeps and flash cuts create confusion and risk.”
The coalition includes national organizations such as the Coalition of Large Tribes, the National Congress of American Indians and the Native American Rights Fund; regional organizations including the Great Plains Tribal Chairmen’s Association; and issue-specific organizations such as the Native American Finance Officers Association.
A.C. Locklear II, the National Indian Health Board’s interim chief executive officer, told attendees during a panel discussion Wednesday, Feb. 12, on healthcare priorities that tribal health programs were working to exempt Indian Health Service and other agencies under the Department of Health and Human Services from federal funding and hiring freezes and cutbacks. Disruption to services can have a devastating impact on American Indians and Alaska Natives.
“We all know that the workforce shortages in Indian Country, especially in Indian health, are dire right now, and we want to make sure that we’re not causing any more harm there,” Locklear said, who is Lumbee.
Other agencies he said to include would be anything that goes through IHS, tribal facilities, urban Indian health facilities, programs going through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and other funding that goes to tribes for their essential services.
Background
The Trump administration ordered agencies Thursday to lay off nearly all probationary employees who had not yet gained civil service protection, a move that could affect hundreds of thousands of workers, The Associated Press reported.
In addition, workers at some agencies were warned that large workplace cuts would be coming, AP reported.
The order on probationary workers came from the Office of Personnel Management, which serves as a human resources department for the federal government, AP reported.
It’s clear how many workers are currently in a probationary period,AP said. According to government data maintained by OPM, as of March 2024, 220,000 workers had less than a year on the job — the most recent data available.
Everett Kelley, the president of the American Federation of Government Employees representing federal workers, told AP the administration “abused” the probation status of workers “to conduct a politically driven mass firing spree, targeting employees not because of performance, but because they were hired before Trump took office.”
The firing of probationary employees began earlier this week and included the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Department of Education workers, AP reported. At least 39 were fired from the Education Department on Wednesday, according to a union that represents agency workers, including civil rights workers, special education specialists and student aid officials.
The layoffs also hit Department of Veterans Affairs researchers working on cancer treatment, opioid addiction, prosthetics and burn pit exposure, U.S. Sen. Patty Murray, a Democrat from Washington State, said Thursday.
Murray said in a statement that VA researchers in her state were told to stop their research “not because their work isn’t desperately needed, but because Trump and Elon have decided to fire these researchers on a whim.”
Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, a group that defends government workers, said the Agriculture Department’s Food Safety and Inspection Service would be hit especially hard by laying off probationary employees because it has trouble recruiting inspectors required to be present at all times at most slaughterhouses.
AP reported that the civilian federal workforce, which does not include military personnel and postal workers, is made up of about 2.4 million people. More than 80 percent live outside the Washington area.
Layoffs are unlikely to yield significant deficit savings, AP said. When the Congressional Budget Office looked at the issue, it found the government spent $271 billion annually compensating civilian federal workers, with about 60 percent of that total going to workers employed by the departments of Defense, Homeland Security and Veterans Affairs, AP said.
The layoff came after a federal judge Wednesday blocked an attempt by the Trump administration to offer buyouts to workers.
This story contains material from The Associated Press.
This story was produced with help from funding from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation.